Planning and drawing of occluded objects by young children.

Abstract

When children under 8 yr. old draw an object occluded by another, they depict each object separately either horizontally or vertically. This study examined whether children aged 4-6-yr.-old intended to draw occluding and occluded objects separately at the planning stage like their drawn product. 25 4-yr.-olds (boys=14, girls=11), 28 5-yr.-olds (boys=14, girls=14), and 29 6-yr.-olds (boys=19, girls=10) were presented two cups, set one behind another, with handles visible at the side in partial occlusion and invisible in total occlusion. They were asked to draw the cups as they saw them and to select one among five picture cards (circle, horizontal, orientation-centered, vertical, view-specific) that matched their drawing plan. Analysis showed in both partial and total occlusions in the drawing 4-yr.-olds more often drew either a circle or the two cups horizontally; 5-yr.-olds drew the two cups vertically, while 6-yr.-olds made view-specific drawings, that is, drew the cups as seen. On the planning task for partial and total occlusions 4-yr.-olds selected the picture card representing a circle or two horizontally drawn cups, 5-yr.-olds tended to pick the card of two vertically drawn cups, while 6-yr.-olds chose the view-specific picture card, like their drawn products. These results suggested that planning and drawing were similar within and across age groups and that children's drawing reflected the representation of their planning.